{{... final post}}
I flew into an oddly treeless Reno on a sunny day. My friend Yuka picked me up and we went to a huge American style all-you-can-eat buffey. After that, we went and tried a little gambling with her roommates. Inside I still feel like a little kid, so I didnt sit down at any of the poker tables, but Yuka's roommate taught me how to use a video slot machine and I played around on it a little. I'm not that into gambling though so after that we went back to Yuka's home in the suburbs. They had such a large American style house that there was even a spare room for me. Cookie-cutter suburb, but big and spacious.
The next day, Yuka had to teach (her job!) so I watched her teach at her college. She was teaching a "Japanese Culture" class, full of energy and mental bubbles. The students seemed to get a big kick out of it, and I kind of felt like a student again because I had mingled with the students in the back of the class. After her classes were finished at about 3:00 we headed out to a huge lake near her place, lake Tahoe. By the time we got there it was cold and rainy. We just mostly sat in her car, with rain smearing the windowshield, talked about time flying, and other random topics until the day began to fade.
In what seemed like a blink of an eye, it was the next day and I was heading off back to Seattle to take my plane back to Japan. I met a college friend Seth for dinner (but oddly two other mutual college friends didnt want to meet) and then kind of anti-climatically checked myself into a too-expensive hotel next to the airport so I could wake up early for my return flight. And then after a long push through the air the next day, I was home in Japan again.
It almost doesnt seem real already. Just a blur of memories. I uploaded about 48 pictures of mostly scenery I saw in America. If you want people pictures, you'll have to explore the network of connections I have to the web. They're somewhere, but not here. Here I just wanted to share a few mental impressions.
